Study: Type 2 Diabetes Drugs May Lead to Pancreatic Damage

A recent study found that Type 2 diabetics taking drugs such as Januvia and Byetta, might be at increased risk for pancreatic damage, including pancreatic cell growth that could lead to cancer.

The study, out of the University of California, Los Angeles, and led by researchers Alexandra Butler and Peter Butler, revealed evidence of pre-cancerous changes in the pancreatic tissues of diabetic patients takings drugs in the class of incretin mimetics, wrote Bloomberg News.

Incretin mimetic drugs imitate the body’s incretin hormones. These hormones are meant to stimulate insulin release following consumption of meals and are typically used in collaboration with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required a label update on these drugs warning of the risk of acute pancreatitis, a painful, potentially fatal disorder and a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

In a recent agency Drug Safety Communication, the FDA said it is investigating reports of potential increased risks of pancreatitis and pre-pancreatic cancer findings associated with these medications. The new findings suggest an increased risk of pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas, and pre-cancerous cellular changes—pancreatic duct metaplasia—in Type 2 diabetic patients treated with incretin mimetics. “These findings are in accord with the rapidly increasing number of reports to the U.S Food and Drug Administration of pancreatic cancer in patients using these drugs compared with diabetics using other drugs,” Public Citizen said, according to Bloomberg News.

Although the FDA said it has not reached any new conclusions about the safety risks associated incretin mimetics, the agency informed the public and the health care community that it intends to secure and evaluate the new research that reveals links between these Type 2 medications and increased risks for pancreatic diseases, including cancer of the pancreas.

Prior research also revealed that Januvia and Byetta have been associated with reports of increased risks for pancreatic and thyroid cancers. Another new study also found that the drugs may double patients’ risks for developing pancreatitis, the first time a study put a number to the risk. In the United States, about 8.6 percent of the population—25 million people—were diagnosed with diabetes in 2010, based on prior Bloomberg News data. That number is expected to rise to more than 34 million by 2020.

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that is linked to cancer and kidney failure. Chronic pancreatitis is painful, potentially fatal, and a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Other serious side effects have been linked to these Type 2 diabetes drugs including low blood sugar; anaphylaxis and other allergic reactions, such as hives, rash, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat; diseases of the pancreas such as acute, necrotizing, or heomorrhagic pancreatitis; pancreatic cancer; thyroid cancer; vomiting and nausea; anorexia; persistent, severe abdominal pain, sometimes radiating to the back; and death.